Imagine refurbished, heritage buildings on your high street that are owned and occupied by community enterprises, provide important services, attract footfall and contribute proactively to the wider reshaping and image of your town or city centre.
That is the prospect that the Government is looking to support through recent legislation in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act “delivering a new community ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces”.
Here, we look at getting ready for a ‘Right to Buy’ by considering what communities would need to consider before taking first steps in owning assets; what sub-regional strategies need to be put in place to facilitate successful local take-up; and what government support might help to deliver.
Purpose & inspiration
Our purpose in reflecting on getting ready for a ‘Right to Buy’, is to help focus on a wider process that delivers all aspects of developing viable community services in vacant buildings, whilst happening in a way that takes account of the two-way fit with wider town centre revitalisation.
Our inspiration comes from community enterprises we have worked with or experienced, and have written about previously. Community businesses that own and operate community-owned buildings such as:
- Number 8 Community Arts Centre in Pershore that provides a café, rehearsal studios and a 250 seat auditorium in a former Co-op supermarket, and is featured in our post on the art of asset-based development.
- Galeri Caernarfon whose property portfolio includes 16 town centre business premises, a cinema/theatre, café-bar and galleries, workspaces and 19 artisan workshops that is featured in our news story about heritage development trusts.
- Ballinasloe Area Community Development who have recently refurbished a former bank building to provide workspace for 45 workers in their new town centre Enterprise Hub, as featured in our blog on combining enterprise and community development.
Emerging government policy
Policy details, support mechanisms and timetables continiue to emerge from government, though the commitment in the Devolution Act builds on earlier statements about “empowering local communities with a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets”.
For insights on what the detail may mean to Labour politicians, last year’s report by the Community Ownership Commission on Unleashing Community Ownership offers the prospect that a ‘Right to Buy’ can include being a step towards re-using iconic buildings and creating new key attractors as part of the town centre mix.
The Unleashing Community Ownership report more broadly seeks to “empower communities with the rights, funding and support they need to take community ownership to the next level.” It proposes that an initial step would be the introduction of such a new Community Right to Buy that would give community groups first refusal on listed assets of community value (ACVs). The proposal was that a new ‘Community Right to Buy’ would ensure more assets come onto the market, by putting pressure on owners to use their assets more productively or sell them to communities.
This appears in-line with positioning and lobbying by Locality and Power to Change that you can catch-up with amongst our recommended reads on building thriving neighbourhoods, community-powered high streets and the new high streets playbook.
Responding to national calls for increasing community ownership
In its manifesto for building thriving neighbourhoods, including those in and around our town and city centres, Locality sets-out five big reforms that it says can inspire a “community-powered revolution”. The first of these proposed reforms is to introduce a Community Power Act that will create three new community rights that includes the right to buy assets of community value. It calls for a new National Community Ownership Strategy, backed by an expanded and extended version of the previous Community Ownership Fund.
The report on community-powered high streets published by Power to Change makes an important and timely call for greater importance to be given to the role of community businesses in the revitalisation of our town and city centres. The report concludes with three core policies and additional ideas for further exploration, including a call for government to “create the conditions for more alternative ownership, such as community business or community development companies, on the high street, and mainstream alternative ownership and the role of the community developer into high street regeneration practice“.
Long-standing Scottish ‘Right to Buy’
In Scotland the long-standing ‘Community Right to Buy‘ has existed since 2003 and allows communities to apply to register an interest in land, usually in private ownership. An application to register a community interest in land must show sustainable development benefits and demonstrate community support. The legislation gives communities the opportunity to buy the registered land over a 9-month period when it comes up for sale, subject to a successful ballot of the community. Any sale involves an owner who has decided to sell, with the community effectively offered first refusal.
Joined-up process
As the People & Places Partnership, we feel that policy and practice at the national, regional and community level needs to be getting ready for a ‘Right to Buy’ in ways that lead to best use of assets and integrate this into the wider vision and purpose of a place.
Reflecting on the Community Ownership Commission’s thinking and our own experience, and with input from our associates at The Vacant Shops Academy, we suggest that support needs to be in place to enable community groups to follow a comprehensive process that covers the ‘Right to Buy’ as part of asset development and a place-based approach.
Developing the asset
Developing the community asset and enterprise requires support and community-based practice beyond registering a ‘Right to Buy’ and following a rigorous process that involves:
- Auditing the assets: Mapping and assessing existing community and cultural assets alongside vacant or other potential properties; engaging with agents and owners.
- Widening the benefits: Balancing and distinguishing the challenges of running a profitable business, providing a community service, and focusing on any wider strategic regeneration objectives including and benefitting from and adding to local footfall.
- Creating capacity: Building the community capacity, especially in areas of higher need, and piloting a potentially self-financing service, e.g. as a meanwhile use.
- Acquiring and redeveloping the asset: Successful fundraising and negotiations to buy or transfer the ownership of the asset, including any necessary restoration or conversion work to an appropriate standard.
- Running the enterprise: Operating a successful business/service within the asset that generates a surplus after on-going running costs and long-term maintenance have been covered.
Taking a place-based approach
It is important that such a strong focus on enabling the community enterprise is integrated as part of wider revitalisation through what the Unleashing Community Ownership report refers to as following a place-based funding model and reshaping local engagement by partnering with communities in taking the decisions that affect them.
Jointly with The Vacant Shops Academy, we suggest the following steps that may enable the ‘Right to Buy’ to provide a hook for a wider approach to town centre revitalisation, and vice versa:
a. inclusion as part of wider place planning and engagement with stakeholders and catchment analysis to identify local priorities and solutions as part of town centre revitalisation.
b. integration as part of wider vacant units’ assessment as part of a place partnership approach championed by The Vacant Shops Academy and featuring an audit, engage, encourage, promote approach.
c. consideration alongside wider town centre diversification options for privately or publicly-owned businesses providing local services such as arts & crafts, creative, culture, community, heritage, leisure, education, health & wellbeing.
d. accounted for as a modest option in developing related public sector policy such as land use planning, cultural and community development.
e. addressed even-handedly as part of public sector asset management in a way that safeguards assets rather than off-loads liabilities, including the implications from imminent local authority restructuring and devolution.
From national policy to local practice
With a clear commitment from national government to roll-out a ‘Right to Buy’ policy, we feel that now is timely for strategic, combined and remaining local authorities to be preparing a wider approach for supporting community enterprise as their structures and strategies evolve. Our experience at People & Places as part of the West Midlands Mayor’s Town Centre Task Force, demonstrated the importance of integrated policy between say regeneration and social enterprise at the Combined Authority level. Our expectation is that, alongside national programmes, it is at this strategic authority level that integrated policies for supporting the delivery of the ‘Right to Buy’ and community enterprise more widely, need to be developed. There is also the prospect to deliver the Right to Buy at the neighbourhood level through the Pride in Place programme.
These then can be applied at the local level through what the Devolution and Community Empowerment Act refers to as stronger arrangements for the way councils engage at a neighbourhood level and give communities a voice. Potentially, new community enterprises rooted in the community can be part of this engagement and local governance. That is certainly the case with Galeri Caernarfon and Ballinasloe Area Community Development.
The other end of this link between national policy and local practice is ensuring there is the necessary support at the community level in getting ready for a ‘Right to Buy’ and wider support for community enterprise. Whilst this is still in part an act of faith as national and sub-regional policies emerge, there is now a strong signal that it may be worth communities getting ahead of the game to develop local apparoches for acquiring assets for community-run enterprises.
Confidence in the right time for the ‘Right to Buy’
Pioneers have gone before and successfully established flourishing community enterprises in formerly vacant or redundant buildings without a ‘Right to Buy’. In looking here at getting ready for a ‘Right to Buy’, it is important to be aware of the need for wider, joined-up processes that budding community enterprises need to follow, and the regional strategies that need to be in place to scale-up activity. The prospect of government-backed new powers, assisted by strategy and support to the local level, could provide more communities with the confidence that now is the right time to get ready for using a ‘Right to Buy’ as a possible step towards creating more flourishing businesses in iconic high street buildings.
Update from Devolution and Empowerment Act
In April 2026 the Government introduced a “community right to buy assets of community value” as part of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act. As hoped, this new ‘right’ improves on the existing ‘right to bid’ for assets of community value, with a key change being the introduction of a right of first refusal for community groups on the sale of assets of community value (ACV).
Under this new Community Right to Buy, our understanding is that the community group and asset owner will either negotiate a price for the asset, or an independent valuer will set a price based on the market value. The moratorium on the sale of the asset will be extended to 12 months, giving community groups more time to raise funding to meet the agreed purchase price. Asset owners will be able to ask the local authority to check that community groups are making sufficient progress on the sale 6 months into the moratorium.
We understand that the definition of an ACV will also be expanded to help protect a wider range of assets, including those that support the economy of a community and those that were historically of importance to the community. Community groups will be able to appeal the local authority’s decision on whether an asset is of community value and local authorities will be supported to deliver the powers with new guidance. A new category of Sporting Assets of Community Value will also be added to improve protection for an estimated 6,000 sports grounds in England.
Funding for purchasing assets
As camapigners have been quick to point out, this new Community Right to Buy currently comes with a limited government funding commitment to assist with purchasing assets. The prospect is that devolved strategic authorities might choose to do so, or possibly funding streams like the ‘Pride in Place’ programme, can make use of the ‘Right’ to help communities acquire assets.
In June 2026, the Government announced it will introduce a new £61million ‘Pride in Place Community Right to Buy Fund‘, to empower communities in the most deprived areas, to take ownership of valued local assets “such as pubs, clubs and community centres”. This funding is part of £301m already earmarked to support ‘High Street Innovation Partnerships. The Government statement said that it will directly support communities in taking advantage of Community Right to Buy, created by our English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act.
Further guidance
The art of asset-based development is an approach with the potential to being a growing to part of revitalising our local economies and communities through enterprise, service delivery and wider engagement. It is an approach advocated as part of the earlier published Locality Manifesto on building thriving neighbourhoods as something that can be practical and achievable in different types of places including those in and around our town and city centres. Similarly, Power for Change’s community-powered high streets report provided a well-crafted lobbying document aimed at influencing party manifestos and the policies of the “next government”. In parallel the Community Ownership Commission assessed how the benefits of community ownership might spread to more communities. Its report, unleasheasing community ownership provides a blueprint for creating the environment for community ownership to thrive. Most recently, Power to Change’s new high street playbook report offers valuable insights in to the potential of community-owned businesses to take a widespread leadership role in the multi-purpose revitalisation of town and city centres.
Walk the talk
These topical reports from amongst our “recommended reads” are a great place to extend your knowledge of the place of the art of asset-based development in wider revitalisation. If you’d like to begin by getting a greater sense of why I have such a soft spot for the work of BACD, I invite you to ‘walk the talk’ and watch my short video about being “back in Ballinasloe“.
Watch this space for more information for future policy twists and turns on the road to the right to, and the resources that enable, communities to acquire, refurbish and run those heritage buildings and essential services, on your high street or in your neighbourhood.
